Thy Kingdom Come
by Senata-K
Summary: A fic relating to the Hollow Kingdom Trilogy, with another girl named Kate, this one coming from America after the death of her parents. A descendant of Til's, she captures the eye of the Goblin King when she returns to her childhood home of Hollow Hill.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

**Chapter One**

"You're kidding, right?" I asked, laughing at the absurdity of the statement. My parents, dead? No way…had they always made it through scrapes, every time. The both of them defied death and the laws of nature on a daily basis. I, of course, being a total klutz, had on more than one occasion had to get bailed out by the two and their tricks of immortality. At least, that's what they had always seemed—immortal.

"Kate, I'm not. I wouldn't—couldn't—lie about this. Your parents got into an accident. They didn't make it out."

"Matty, stop lying. It's not funny anymore. Cut it out, okay?" This was going too far. He knew not to joke about this stuff—there had been enough close calls in the past to make this an unspoken thing.

I met his stare defiantly, and saw true sorrow in his ocean-grey eyes. He was telling the truth. My parents were dead. I continued to stare at him, because I couldn't stop. I couldn't move, breath, talk, think, feel. I was numb. My parents were dead. They were never immortal, never had been immortal, as everyone had jokingly called them. They were dead. This time, they wouldn't be coming back. They had defied death for long enough, and now he was taking his toll. I stared into Matty's eyes as I let the truth pummel me down. Finally, I broke that stare.

But that was only because I fell into his arms, not even able to cry.

England was…different. At least, Hollow Village was. The inhabitants were no longer cozy and carefree, laughing and waving at someone, even a stranger, would walk down the street. It was bigger, too, than ten years ago. The decade had turned the small village into a small city, with all the joys and sorrows that the city brings. Yes, nightclubs now offered entertainment all the night long, but the allies were no longer safe to play hide-and-go-seek on a warm summer's evening. People no longer knew every face in the area; they barely even knew their own neighbors' first names. It was a sad homecoming, but I didn't notice, not then. At that point, all that I wanted to do was to go home.

The estate had belonged to my mother and father, and before them, my grandparents and their grandparents before that. As far back as anyone could tell, the Lodge, House and surrounding area had been owned been someone in my family. I might have grown up in America, but it was here, in England, that I truly ever felt at home. My first thought after…it…happened was to come here. To come home, to a place that I knew that I truly and well belonged.

The village might have changed, and it might not have been safe to walk the country roads at night alone anymore, but the Estate was still just the same as always. I knew exactly the moment I crossed the boundary, and everything seemed to be okay again, and the sadness seemed to be holding itself at bay. The sun was shining the same as it had on the other side, the town side, but here it was warmer, more alive, less of a rock in the sky and more of a bringer of warmth and happiness.

The birds trilled their way merrily through the trees as I walked the small path through the woods. The woods, here, were different as well. The colors of the forest and the creatures that inhabited it were somehow more vibrant here, more _real_. And the animals were exactly how I remembered them. Not afraid of humans, but not friendly either. Just living their own lives and letting me live mine. Neither of us got in the way of the other, and so we could live in peace, just like always. And always, just like always, the animals would watch. Sometimes it would just be one, sometimes a few of them would frolic and romp together, but keeping an eye on a person the whole time. When I was younger, I had always laughed and talked to the deer and the rabbits and the squirrels, but now not just a bit disconcerting and a little creepy, as well.

They watched me the whole length of the path, but at least this time it was just a few birds, following me and singing merrily all the while, seemed to steer me towards the middle of the path, as if they didn't want me to go on any rambles today. Fine. Wasn't planning to. Today I was just going to relax, and maybe clean a bit. Stupid birds. I stuck my tongue out at them impulsively, and one almost ran into a tree, like it was shocked that I had even done that. Hehe. Humans rock.

The walk to the House only took about twenty minutes, and so it was only about two that I first walked into the entryway. I could've kept going on to the Lodge, but it was another fifteen minutes walk and I didn't feel like being alone in the huge building for the first time in a little over ten years.

It felt wonderful, coming home. I stood in the entryway for what felt like only seconds but was at least ten minutes, just looking at everything and letting the memories wash over me. From where I stood I could see the stairs at the very end of the central corridor, and each room directly in front of me. To my right was an office, where my parents had worked from when we had spent summers here. At my left was a living room, where I could still remember staying up late nights with my mother and father, watching movies, playing games and laughing. Always laughing.

Hastily I wiped the forming tears from my eyes and began my way to the staircase. I was done crying, at least until the night. Then I couldn't even see myself, and so it was alright just to let go at those points. I knew that beyond the living room and office were a kitchen and a dining room, but there wasn't really anything that I felt had to be attended to in either of those rooms.

Again, I stood at the top of the stairs to just let the love and comfort of being in the House once more soak through my very pores. There, on the left side of the stairs was my bedroom and, towards the back, the guest bedroom and shared upstairs bathroom. On the right were the bedroom that my parents had slept in, and another lounge-type living room area. I avoided that side of the upper floor. I did not need those memories at this time. Maybe in a while, once it had sunk it and was a dull throb instead of a sharp pain. If that ever happened. But for now…for now I just walked into my room, left the door open, and threw my backpack and duffel down. I lay down on my bed and realized just how tired I really was. Funny thing, that…I had thought that the walk had energized me…but….I guess…not…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter One

**Chapter Two**

"_Tobie!" I called, laughing. "I haven't seen you in so long! And look, you're not a little boy anymore! They can't call you 'Tiny Tobie' anymore, now can they?" I was in the clearing called the Druid's Circle, with my friend Tobie staring at me from just between the two rings of massive oaks. He smiled as I called out his name, and stepped into the clearing when I held a hand out to him. "Come now, Tobie, not even a hug for the one you were sure to marry?" Jokingly I teased him, remembering when we were both young and knew only each other._

_We met in the center of the clearing and embraced for a few long moments. It felt so good to be back in his arms. They had helped me through all kinds of skinned knees and risks back when we were children, and now was no different. The bond of our childhood had been forgotten, but now I found that it was just as strong as ever. I wasn't in love with Tobie, no, but he was closer to me than any sibling ever could have been, so much closer than even my parents. I knew that he had felt the same way so long ago, but what about now?_

_I stepped back to look at him up close. The tiny, skinny boy that I had known had grown to be a man. He was easily a head taller than me, with lean muscles showing through the black cloth of his shirt and pants. He was barefoot, but that was no oddity. Tobie had always said that he had hated not being able to feel the earth through his feet, and so therefore hated wearing shoes, ever._

_His face was more defined, now, his chin and cheek bones more prominent, giving Tobie a more chiseled look. His eyes were the same, though—green, with gold flecks throughout and the slitted pupils of a cat. That was the only oddity of him, though, unlike some of our other mutual friends. When he was younger he had been made fun of for being so—well, I suppose that I would call it normal, but it was anything but where he lived. "You've changed." I noted , still in awe in seeing him after these years. I knew that I was in a dream, but still…dreams could often be better-suited than reality._

"_As have you, Katlín." He nodded, holding onto my shoulders and looking me over. Man's hands, I realized. Tobie really was no longer a little boy. "It's been far too long." He had always had that odd, formal way of speaking. It had grown on me, to the point of soothing in times of trouble. "Still as short as ever, though—and have you never learned to comb your own hair?" I punched him, laughing. _

"_Yours looks no better!" I exclaimed, grinning at the wild black locks that seemed to never to be tamed._

"_My hair has no need to lie flat." He sniffed jokingly. "It looks like I've just gotten back from slaying a hundred thousand beasts—and the girls don't mid that." Smirking, he brushed a hand through his hair and struck a 'manly' pose. I just gazed at him, unfazed but giggling uncontrollably. "Oh, so you don't believe me?" He asked astonishingly. "Well, then come to the ball tonight! Anyone and all are welcome, and you can see for yourself just how irresistible I am! And if that doesn't convince you, my parents will be there as well. Mother has been waiting for _ages_ to see you!" I grinned at the thought of seeing his mother, Adrienn, again. _

_She had been my second mother when I was younger, always there to mend a torn knee or give a hot chocolate on a cold, drizzly day. She had been full of magick, I had always believed that, if she herself was one to deny it.Adrienn had the cat-eyes of her son, though she also had the ears of the creature, poking through her midnight hair and swiveling at the slightest sound._

_Her husband, Tobie's father, was tall and slim, but had always been a warm presence just as well. The things that stood out about him, other than his height (reaching over seven feet), were his feet—from the knees and on down, he walked on the paws of some great brown bear, and the fur extended all the way up the backs of his legs. Tobie had always wished to be more like his father, thinking that too much of his mother in him would make him feminine, and unlikable as he grew older. I though much the opposite now—the mix had ended up turning his _very_ likable face into one that became even handsome—and possibly some other words that came to me when I stopped thinking of him as somewhat of a brother to me._

"_Would you like to come, then?" He asked me again. "You'd meet lots of new people there—maybe even a man to take home to your parents. Though, of course, none of them would ever me able to stand up to the glory of me." He had always joked about his ego, and about our futures with other people. It had never bothered me, and shouldn't now, really—except that I had no parents, anymore, to take home any boys to. And the thought overwhelmed me._

_I sat down heavily on the warm grass, starting stupidly off into the distance, tears starting to make their silent, familiar trek down my cheeks. No parents to bring home guys to, to be at my wedding, to see my children, to love, to have fights with, to hug, to—_

"_Kate!" Tobie said sharply, kneeling to be somewhat more at my level. His hands were clenched tightly in his lap, I saw—the knuckles were turning white. I looked blankly into his eyes. "Kate." He said again, more softly this time—gathering me to his chest, giving me a much-needed shoulder to cry on. Oh, how I wish how he had been there. Mattie was my friend, but he could never know me like Tobie. "Kate." He whispered into my hair. "I'm so sorry. I heard all about it, and, and…I'm sorry, it just slipped out. I didn't mean it, really. I'm sorry Kate, so sorry. We all mourned at their passing. We all hoped that you would come back—and look, Kate, you did! And I'm here for you and always know that—I will never leave you, Kate, never." He finished, done babbling just for the sake of talking, for the sake of a calming voice._

_It worked. My tears had stopped, and I was myself again—for a moment. The grief had been pushed back, to the place that it hid out when I didn't focus on it, or when a painful memory just happened. I hugged Tobie once, firmly, and then pushed myself off the ground, holding out a hand to help him up. "Thank you, Tobie." I whispered softly to him, and was rewarded with a sheepish grin as he took my hand._

_However, as soon as he was off of the ground, he stepped back and put one hand behind his back. He seemed to concentrate for a few moments during which I only stared at him with a questioning eyebrow raised. Tobie grinned and swept his hand out from behind his back. "Ta-da!" He cried happily, holding the surprise out in front of him, shaking it once to dispel of any invisible wrinkles there might be imagined._

_It was a beautiful gown, strapless and a soft pink. There was a sash that was of a deeper sash circling the high empire waist. Oh, wait, yes there were straps—or, rather a loop-thing that slide over the head to rest behind the neck, so thin it was barely visible. Instinctively I knew that it was just my size, as if made especially for me, and would fall softly down to the ground if I were to wear it. From about the knees on down sparkly little things shimmered about and grew denser and denser until, at the hem, they made a sort of shimmering border. I wanted to wear that gown, though I knew that I never could. The balls of Tobie's people had never been for those like me, and I wasn't sure just how welcome I would be. Maybe in the next dream, when I was more….stable. Myself._

_I smiled sadly at the excited expression on his face. It had taken a while for him to stop being the stiff, polite Tobie and to start just being a little boy. I was glad that he hadn't gone back to wearing the mask. "I'm sorry, Tobie, but I can't. Not tonight. Just give a bit, okay? Just a bit….just a bit…."_

His smile was still in place in my mind as I jolted up from my impromptu sleeping position…and then I just as quickly fell off of the grand four-poster, the precarious balance of those in the blissful ignorance of sleep having been broken. I lay there on the soft blue carpet for a few moments with my eyes shut tightly, trying to decide between trying to remember the dream and trying to forget. I decided on the latter…it would prove to be far less troublesome, I thought. Whether that was right or not would be something else altogether.

Tobie wasn't real—had never _been_ real—or at least that's what I had been told, and convinced of, over the years. He was the product of a lonely child's overactive imagination, as were all the rest of the family, friends, and even the world connected with him. The last time I had 'talked' with him, I was six and knew that I wasn't going to be coming back to England, to the Estate for a long, long time. I also confronted him about the fact that he was, simple, my imaginary friend, and wondered why he hadn't told me before. He had only laughed and said that he had been told never to lie—that was only for humans to do. We had hugged one last time, and from then on I had never talked to anyone about it—he never appeared to me again and slowly, over time, I began to believe that maybe he really was just a figment of my imagination. I cried for the first night that I finally accepted that fact, but from then on I barred any memories of him from my thoughts, my feelings. If he wasn't really, it made it easier to cope with the fact that I would never see him again. No one but my parents ever knew about him, and I began to make new friends, new memories.

Tobie was only dream, was only ever a dream. But still, as I clung to the bedpost and hauled myself to my feet, I could have sworn that I saw a flicker of pale pink dress from the corner of my eye. I simple walked out of the room and to the bathroom, intent on that one purpose. I didn't want to turn around and see nothing there but my bare bedroom.


	3. Chapter 3

I had been in England for almost two weeks now, and my life was settling into a nice little pattern

I had been in England for almost two weeks now, and my life was settling into a nice little pattern. I'd wake up with the birds, and take my time getting ready and presentable, unless it was one of those rare days that I actually had something to attend to at a certain time. I'd eat breakfast, and then either laze around for the morning or pack a lunch and head out to the woods towards the back of the House. Those days would find me straggling in around suppertime or even later, hair wild and clothes and skin smudged with dirt and sweat. I was beginning to know the forest once again, and loved every minute of it—even if the animals did tend to creep me out from time to time (often).

The lazy days would be ones where, after I finally made myself eat lunch, I did any number of things for the rest of the day and evening. Sometimes I'd go into town for shopping or just to look around, and some days I would spend innumerable hours scouring clean both the House and Lodge. Others, I was just content to lay a blanket on the grass, bring a book and read and catnap my way through the day. I never went to bed too much past nine or so, because there was no reason for me to stay up later and I had never been able to sleep very late.

Today was one of the former days. Rising around ten, I felt alive and excited for no particular reason. I rushed through my shower and such, and only had time to snatch a few granola bars, a bottle of water and one of my current books off the counter before I was out the door and up the hill leading to the woods, all by eleven thirty or so. This morning I had a particular destination in mind—the Druid's Circle. I hoped to make it there by noon, so I could spend a few hours reading and relaxing before my growling stomach made me return to the House for some sort of lunch/dinner-ish thing.

The weather was beautiful perfect for a hike. I clutched my pack closer to my shoulders and grinned like a fool up to the sky and through the trees. As usual, the birds and animals seemed to be only half-themselves. Like, only a half of the birds sang their songs, only half of the animals that I saw seemed to be doing regular animal-like things. But I had grown used to it over past couple of groups and just started talking to them all as if they could understand me, and that was why they weren't being normal—because they weren't. Of course I knew that the idea was stupid and juvenile—but I wanted to be stupid and juvenile, just for the moment. Or a few. Or forever, here in the deep of the woods, where anything was possible.

And here I was, standing outside of the circle. The woods were, now, oddly silent—not a branch even rustled in the breeze. Wasn't this the part in the movies where someone always dies? Whatever—it had always felt different, in the circle.

Quickly, before I was able to change my mind, I stepped between the trees. The darkness was so sudden and complete between the rows of soaring oaks that it took a few moments for my eyes to adjust even at all. I didn't want to linger, however, and so I continued on, breaking into the sunlight and once again having to adjust my vision. And it was beautiful—more so than I had even remembered. Even more so than that dream—but I wasn't going to think about that.

Each tree in the rings was huge, so that it would take two or three, maybe even more, grown men to link arms around it. The sky was a perfect blue, dotted with a few clouds that always look like someone's painted them on there. Small flowers made random and unique design in all shades of the rainbow among the grass that always seemed greener here on the other side of the trees.

I promptly sat down in the grass, pulling out a granola bar and bottle of water. As I munched my way through them I continued to look around the circle with wide eyes. I remembered spending countless evenings here playing at all sorts of things. One of my favorites was when I was a princess, and this the chamber where I carried out all of the business of my fairy-tale realm. The first time that I had played that game here was also the first time that I met Tobie—or, rather, that I had imagined him. He had become my prince, shielding the castle from demons and plague alike. Though he was the one to do all of the fighting, we always knew that it was I the held the real power in the kingdom, with my court of rabbits, birds and fawn. Times here had been wonderful, and this was probably the place that I had missed the most after that last summer.

With a sigh I lay back on the grass, staring idly at the sky overhead. The woods were still deathly silent, but it didn't really faze me after that first couple of minutes. The trees and their inhabitants had always been strange here, and after a while one could pretty much adapt to any of the random changes that the forest would throw at you. I was tired, I realized. It shocked me, because I had been getting wonderful sleep at the House, but the shock wasn't so much felt as mildly observed. I was drifting off into the cool lull of sleep, and felt safe, here in the Druids' Circle.

Footsteps. Footsteps walking through the clearing. Towards me. Coming closer, closer—they were real. This wasn't a dream. My eyes snapped open, and I peered around at ground-level for whoever was here with me. I wouldn't see much just lying here on the ground, though, and propelled myself up to crouch. Searching every crevasse between the oaks for something, anything. Nothing. But it had sounded so close! Someone had been in here with me. Someone had been walking towards me, and then disappeared. I had heard reality—I hadn't imagined it. I knew that. But then, where were they? Maybe it had just been the figment of a forgotten dream. Maybe those footsteps _were_ just my over-active mind seeking out some company. Maybe—

"What. The. Hell." My own voice startled me, but not so much as the first thing, the thing that had forced the words from my lips. It was a bracelet, a bracelet of small blue lilies that encircled my right wrist, looking fragile and almost made of glass. I moved to take it off, to tear the lilies from my skin when I jumped. Again. When I had gone to touch the bracelet, it had _shocked me_. The flowers now seemed to be digging into my skin, not quite painful but more like an extra-hard dose of static electricity, leaping into my arm over and over again. I had to get that thing off. More than the fright was the horror of the pain that I was sure to escalate if I kept the lilies.

I forced myself to move my hand to the bracelet, even though small shocks were now touching my left hand when I got close enough. Not hurting quite yet, but still… In one quick motion I grasped the lilies and _pulled_. There was a small snap, and then a horrible rushing filled my senses.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't think that I was out for too long, for when I was finally able to open my eyes and realize the world around me, the sun hadn't seemed to move in the sky a bit, and the weather felt the same as it had when I had woken up the _first_ time. Anyway, though, it was time that I got going. The glade was still safe, and I knew that as long as I was in here, I would remain as such. But I couldn't spend the night here, by any means. Besides, I had meant to clean a little more today, get some reading done—make more excuses as to why I suddenly wanted to leave the Druids' Circle.

Slowly I lurched to my feet, head not spinning in the least but certainly feeling as if it ought to. _God damn stupid bloody trees and sun and stupid glade with its weird things and stupid __**stupid**__ England!_ I stumbled my way over to the blow-away wrappers of my somewhat-lunch and stuffed them clumsily back into my bag along with the half-full water bottle that I just hoped was closes all the way, I didn't want to take the time and small effort to check it, but neither was coming home to a sopping wet shirt and pack a wonderfully pleasant thought. Nevertheless, I just wanted to get home.

The oaks seemed to grab at me as I left the circle, not viciously but more…pleading. Wanting me to stay, to be safe within their sight and their reach. But I couldn't. I don't know what drew me on, but something was calling me to leave these woods, even to leave the safety of the Druids' Circle. It was an insistent call, a small, unseen and just barely felt thread that connected the most inner part of me, the one that was only my own, never to be another's, to the estate and the House.

The walk returning was even worse than the walk to, which had actually been quite pleasant, according to all standards. This walk was…not. The woods were more than silent. They were apprehensive, watching, respectful of a presence that, somewhere, walked among them. I knew that I could not be that presence under any circumstances, and I did not want to think about what that thing might be. I knew that I was getting paranoid, but still…stories were coming back to me from my younger times. And not the good ones, either. Not the ones where it was all happiness and sunshine, joy and love, wonderful England with its wonderful woods in all its pride and glory. No, the ones that were coming back to me were the ones to keep me safe in the house at night, under the covers and not even wondering what lurked outside my own windows in the dark of the night. The ones that my parents didn't know about when my sitter's spoke to me quietly in the shadows so that I would cause them less trouble about having to go to bed as soon as the sun was down. The ones where little girls got eaten, kidnapped, dragged underwater by the nixies or pulled into the woods by boggarts. The ones that had me shiver in both fear and delicious anticipation, then and now.

Unconsciously my steps hurried even more than I meant them to, and I was almost running through the too-silent forest. Close, close, so close and it would be closed doors and books and cleaning and safety from things that didn't even exist outside of the confines of my mind. My pack bumped along merrily behind me, being only cloth and not being able to sense fear, panic and the paranoia that caused it all. I ignored it sliding down my arms because of the faster pace and loose straps, assuming that I would be able to get to the House, or at least the grounds, before it fell completely off of me and spilled its contents all over the ground. I was wrong.

All at once, it seemed, the long straps of my bag were tangled around my wrists and the bag itself wrapping around my legs. How could something like this even happen _in the nature of the world_? It was just like me, though, to be doing something so utterly simple, like takeing a hike, and having it turn into something so complicated as a race and a fall—onto the roots of an extra large tree that just seemed to be having a blast with this whole thing. Damn tree. Even having the nerve to laugh at me—wait, what the heck. The tree. Was laughing. At me. But it wasn't, couldn't be. Because for one, trees just don't fekken' laugh. And for two…well, it seemed a gernally human laugh. God! Was there a creeper in the woods with me, or what? I had to get home. Now. I left my bag, and just ran. Nothing in there was really worth it.

Sides burning, lungs gasping, it seemed to take ages to make it through my front door, and I had to clasp onto the table just inside the wide door just to stay upright. The walk to the circle had taken me about a half hour, fourty five minutes tops. I had walked/ran the way back in under fifteen. Wow, can you say out of shape much? And then, the most un_believable_ thing happened. The phone rang. Someone called me, and expected me to answer. Ha. That was a joke. But I snuck a look at my called ID anyway. It was Mattie. Oh, joy.

"Hello?" Why did I answer? Stupid, _stupid _Kate.

"Kate? What the hell do you think you're doing, not answering your cell, not even _writing _ me? It's been _two weeks_ since you left, and five frikkin' days since I last talked to you. What's up? Are you on drugs? Because if you are, I am totally there for you, all the way. You know that, right? Whatever it is, I totally got your back. I--

"Mattie, it is _totally_ okay. I'm fine. No drugs, no pimps, nothing. I've just been busy getting to know the lands again. And you can't blame me for not writing—you haven't either, and postage is hell from England to the States, you totally know that!"

"Kate, you sound out of breath. Are you running again? Idiot—it'll be all corss country there, and don't try to tell me that you're prepared for a mile or two of that." Ha. If only he knew how unprepared I was. And why I had been running. But I guess that was why I had answered the phone in the first place—I knew that Mattie would care, and also that he would come stomping on over here, hoodie flying, if he hadn't heard from me in the next fourty-eight hours.

"Mattie," I said with a breathless half-laugh, "I highly doubt that you would even believe me if I told you just why I'm so exhausted at this very moment."

"Try me, Kate." He replied in all seriousness.

"Well, I just ran two or three miles in a little over the time it took me to _run_ one in gym class. And I haven't had gym in almost two years. Oh, and I also think that there was a total creeper watching me in the woods, so I kinda ran all the harder, just for that. Doesn't that all sound like the _best_ of fun!?" I asked him in a mock-happy voice. Think _The Parent Trap_, and add sarcasm. Lots of it.

"Kate, _what_? Now, I don't know what England is like normally,but I definitley _do not_ think that that's it. Now, damnit, I have to go, I can't be late for work again this week. But _promise _ Kate, _** promise **_ that you'll call me _every day_ until I say that it's okay to stop. And I will do the same, do at least I'll know where you are twice every day." He finished up joking, and despite myself I felt a smile tugging at the corners of my lips. Just hearing his voice mad me feel safe—like family, but more, because he was Mattie.

"Okay, Mattie, I promise. Now get to work. Much love, hugs and kisses."

"Hugs and kisses, Kate." A heard the 'click' of a disconnected line, and hung up with a sigh. Oh, god, what was happening to my life?


	5. Chapter 5

The pounding music reverberated through my body, calling to the very most primal part of my being to get up and just let go, to _dance_. And so I did. Dressed in a black, off-the-shoulder top, mini skirt, leggings and calf-high boots, I felt the epitamy of sophistication at this club. I had been lucky enough to catch opening night, three or so weeks after arriving here in England. The pain of the grief was stills strong and throbbing deep inside of me, but the edge was getting taken off, bit by bit. Tonight was helping, if only because the vibrating bass speakers situated throughout the large, ovular room were keeping from me doing anything even near to coherent thought.

Here, I could sway and spin to the music and not have to be disturbed by the creepiness of the hikes these last couple of weeks, or Mattie's growing concern for me that I feared might be more than simply friendly. I could just dance. And it was wonderful.

"Hey there." Oh, yay, someone was hitting on me. So much for not having to think. And I hadn't even come up with a plan to shove off any unwanted admirerers….so what should it be this time, I mused. Already have a boyfriend? Lesbian? Well, no, some seemed to just get closer after that latter one…was _is_ it with boys?

"Hi." Oh, yeah, real smart, Kate. Reeeal classy, there… "Hi".

"Do you mind if I ask you to join me for a drink? It seems that, after dancing so beautifully, that you must be in need of some refreshment. Am I right?" A cocky smile. He was pretty good-looking, I had to admit. A blue and a green eye, sparkling like gems. Blonde hair that looked white, shining with the black lights of the club. Tight black jeans and a similar t seemed to cling to him everywhere they were supposed to…Kate. Stop staring. It's rude. (But oh so fun…).

"Um, sorry, but I'm going to have to decline. Thanks for the offer, though." A quick flash of a shy smile, and move off the dance floor. Maybe he'll move on. Hopefully he'll move on. Shit. I just can't get the luck, can I?

"Already have a boyfriend, then? Or just not interested?"

"All of the above. Now good-bye."

A lazy, confident smile. It reminded me of a lion, knowing that the gazelle was in reach but just not caring to make the kill at that exact moment. "I'll see you later, then, Kate." And he disappeared as soon as he had come about. He sent a shiver down my spine, with how he looked, how he acted…and that smile. Funny, now, that I couldn't remember his name, when he could recall mine…we had never met before. I didn't know his name. He knew mine. Creeper alert, radar going off like crazy. There was no _way_ that I was going to be seeing him again, not if I could help it.

After that, I couldn't seem to get back into the groove. The music just didn't feel right, and I wasn't able to move without looking over my shoulder every second, thinking that there was someone watching me. It felt like there were multiple eyes boring into my back for the next twenty minutes that I forced myself to endure. I wanted to continue to have fun tonight, but obviously that was not going to happen. However, I **could not** see myself walking home alone tonight, even though it was only like measly half mile…so as soon as I saw Marge, one of my mother's old friends, leaving her bartending job and getting ready to go home, I leaped at the chance.

"Hey, um, Marge, I know that it's a little out of your way, but would you mind walking home with me? I guess I'm just not used to the countryside at night yet…especially the whole alone part…"

Marge's tanned; motherly face took in the look of my complete miserableness and immediately slung an arm over my shoulders. She had been like another mother to me all those years ago, but I hadn't talked to her much since I had gotten back. Life had just kept us apart, I guess…and also, the memories were just too painful. The both of us reminded the other of my mother and father, and so we just tended to…avoid…each other, and not always on purpose, either. Life is weird like that.

"Of course, dear. I was so glad when I heard that you were back in town. We simply _must_ get together someday soon to catch up. Did you know that little Ryan has just one into the upper school? And John graduated from Oxford last year, we were all so proud. Kathy is doing well…" I listened happily to her prattle on about her children, all old friends of mine, and soon enough we were through the woods and at the door of the house.

"Well, Kate, this seems to be your stop." She gave an unknowing, gay little laugh. "Always know that my number is yours if you should need anything…it could get awful lonely out here, on the Estate…but I'm sure you're doing fine, aren't you? Yes, that's our little Kate, always taking care of herself." Sadly she smiled, gazed at me for a moment, no more, and embraced me in a warm hug that only mothers can give. It was comforting, after so long. "I'm so glad that you're back, Kate. Now don't let the goblins get you before you can find a young man of your own!" Marge laughed at her own joke as she made her way back up the path into the woods and, further on, into town. She had always been a truly wonderful person. But, still…

"Marge?" I called out, she turning around with a questioning look in her eyes. "What do you mean? What goblins?"

"Oh, Kate, you silly thing. Just children's tales, those are, of the goblins under the hill. Didn't you have a friend that was one of them? Way back when you were just a bit of a thing, and nothing was quite real yet? Pay no mind to me or my sayings, it's living in the village all your life that will do that to a girl. Now have a good night, and I hope to see you in town soon so that we can have a proper talk!." And she left me standing on the threshold, thinking about goblins. There were quite a few tales about goblins, and I was beginning to remember quite a lot of them. Damn. The warm, safe bed was looking quite good at this point.

Exhaustion overwhelmed me before I had even made it all the way up the tall, winding staircase. It came on sudden and severe that I was forced to stop and sit down for a few minutes, fighting sleep until I was in more comfortable clothes, or at least out of my shoes…

And then, just when I was beginning to think that I would fall asleep right there on the steps, and that it wouldn't matter if I fell and broke me neck, because I would be dead anyway to even regret not going to bed…I felt the sleepiness lift. Only enough for me to kick off my boots, pull of my tights, shirt and skirt, but still…. I barely managed to pull a sleeping shirt on, but somehow it made it over my head all the same. My purse I threw haphazardly on the ground, who cared about it anyway….my body hit the mattress and my head the pillow.

"Good night, Kate." I heard a voice murmur as I slipped for good into oblivion.

"Good night." I sighed as I settled deep into the cocoon of blankets and mattress around me as a pair of cool, silken lips grazed my forehead.


	6. Chapter 6

_Bam! Bambambam!_ I cursed to myself and glanced at the alarm clock. Six o'clock. It was six o'clock and someone was trying to break my door down. Wasn't this tea time for people in England or something? Oh, damn, better get it anyway. _Bam! Bam bam! Bam!_ Didn't sound like they were going to give up soon anyway, whoever they were.

I pulled myself out of bed and quickly ran a hand through my hair, stuffing it back in a pony and pulling on some jammie shorts. As I glanced in the mirror on the way out, I was satisfied by my appearance. I didn't look pretty, but I wasn't at my worst, either. Perfectly fine for meeting strangers and friends alike.

I slowly made my way downstairs, still feeling groggy, the last tendrils of sleep still clinging to me. The shadowy outline of a figure could be seen through the foggy glass pattern in the upper half of the door, and I wondered who it could be.

Fumbling with the lock, I leaned against the now-open door and stared at the man on my doorstep. He looked strangely familiar, but for some reason I just couldn't place him. Maybe I had met him last night somewhere…but, funnily, I couldn't remember much from last night. It seemed as if my mind danced around it whenever I tried to focus in on the dancing, the lights. No matter. It was probably just an effect of all the sleeping that I had done today, and the excitement of last night.

"Yes?"

He removed his dark sunglasses and flashed a blinding smile, meant to be welcoming, inviting. It only annoyed me. I was too tired to be exposed to that amount of happiness.

"Hi, I'm Mark. I saw you at the club last night and, when you had gone, realized that you had forgotten your purse. I found out from Marjorie where you were staying, to bring it back."

I snatched my purse from his outstretched hand, suspicious, glaring. I could have sworn that my purse was on the ground last night, this morning. Hadn't I talked to Mattie a few hours ago, on my cell? But maybe not. That could have been a dream. Whatever.

"I know that you're new in the neighborhood, and I've lived here all of my life, so I was thinking, maybe, I could show you around, then?" A smirk worked it's way onto his face as he looked at me expectantly, one slim, callused hand pushing a lock of white-blond hair behind his ear. "I think that we're going to be getting to know each other quite well, really."

I continued to look at him blankly.

"Well, since I _am_ your only neighbor and all…" That _look_ never left his face the whole time, that look that said that he knew something that I didn't. He kept that same expression, even as I slammed that think oak door in his shimmering, multi-colored eyes.

And then, leaning against the wall, I slid down it and sank into oblivion. Last night must have been something else; to make me this tired all of sudden, once again…

I woke up the next morning with an ache in both my neck and my back, but feeling more alive and awake than I had this entire time since the death of my parents. That day of sleeping had done me good, even with that weird interruption of the afternoon before.

As I hummed my way up the stairs, I noticed the sun shining brightly outside. The lands around the House were beautiful, with all the flowers blooming and the trees finally in full leaf. Today was a day meant to be spent outside, to revel in the wind and the air. Maybe today would be the day that I would finally get out to the lake, go swimming. The water had been much too cold lately, but perhaps it would be warmer this morning. No matter, I'd still go. All of a sudden I felt the need to feel that water rushing against my body, shimmering and silky ribbons.

Hopping into the shower, I rushed through it, and slipped into my pink boy shorts and bikini top. This suit hadn't seen the light of day since…well, at least a year ago. There hadn't been time to swim in the States before I made the decision to come here.

I decided not to bring anything with me to the lake, and I just wanted to get their as soon as possible. The prime part of the day would be over soon, as I had a job interview at three for a part-time position as a waitress at the local diner.

Fairly running out the door and through the woods to the Hollow Lake, I felt truly happy. Nothing was watching me from the trees, no creepy laughter from the trees. I made it to the lake and simply stared at it for a moment, hugging myself and remembering all the wonderful times that I had shared here with my parents, and with my…friends.

Deciding that the time for old memories was over, I began making new ones as I waded into the lake, until it got deep enough that I could start swimming out to the middle of the lake. Stroke after stroke, the water was like silk on my skin, warm enough to be comfortable immediately. It was wonderful to just feel the sun on my back, neck and arms and the water all around me. That is, until I made it into the middle of the lake.

And then it was cold, so cold. Ice growing in my veins and reaching its way into my heart, my mind and my soul. I gasped for breath, floundered desperately. My limbs wouldn't respond to my commands, and I was sinking. My lungs filled with water and my mind started to drift. I wasn't able to get back up the surface, this cold spot was so immense, so sudden.

Maybe death wouldn't be so horrible, really. Maybe it would, actually, be okay. I'd get to see my parents again, and Mattie would die eventually. I couldn't even feel anything due to the intensity of the cold, and that was a blessing, I suppose. I wasn't even struggling as sunk deeper and deeper into the lake. When would I reach the bottom? It had been easier that I had expected to accept death, now that it was here, reaching its cold, clammy fingers into my heart and mind. Hey, wherever I ended up after I died, at least there wouldn't be any creepers there…

I hit the bottom of the lake. I guessed that I would die soon. It was quite boring, actually, being this cold. Dying. Hopefully it would end soon, right? Wrong

The bottom of the lake was dry. I was wet. I was dripping onto the dry lake floor. And I wasn't cold anymore, I was actually warming up. And I was wrong in another aspect, as my body began to take over the aspect of ejecting all the water that I swallowed from my swim. There were creepers, here after death. Because one was talking to me, right now.

"Hello again, Kate. Welcome to my kingdom. It's been a long wait."

As I cracked my eyelids open, and saw the man bending over me, it all crashed down around me. The green and blue eyes, the blond hair, the grin. I had, indeed met him when dancing. He had known my name. He had brought my purse to me. He was a _total_ creeper…who now seemed to be rather crazy as well.


	7. Chapter 7

"Your _kingdom_? What are you, _ insane_? I, for one, am in England at the moment, and, last time I checked there was a….huh, what was it again? Oh, yeah—a _queen_!" I spat out, and spared a quick look to my surroundings. Smooth stone walls, with a door leading to an unseen corridor and a smooth, soft whispering behind me. I looked behind me. Bad idea. I must still be tired…because there couldn't possibly be such a thing, standing upright. A wall of solid water.

I sat up, taking deep breaths and tucked my head between my knees. Creeper #1 laughed, and knelt down beside me.

"Yes, it's real." He whispered into my ear. "But, I suppose, maybe I should have stopped you from looking at that. It can be…overwhelming, I guess. And your human minds can just be so, so fragile." I peeked up at him as he shook his head despairingly, and then swiftly stood and took a step or two back.

"Now, shall we go?" He offered a hand. "The woman will be waiting, they're so excited! And we must hurry this up, the people have been pushing me to find a queen for a while....I'm sure now that they'll be happy." The young man seemed to be lost in thought for a bit, and then looked once again at me. "Well?"

I stood up slowly, shakily. "Will you run that by me again? I didn't catch much…only that you said nothing about taking me home after a nice bout of ransom notes and all of that."

He threw back his head and laughed again. "Oh, Kate, you do make me laugh." He slipped his hand into mine and pulled me out of the room, into the hallway. He threw a remark back over his shoulder, almost non-chalantly. "Don't you understand? This is your new home. You're to become my new queen. The Queen of the goblins.

I was prodded, smashed and pulled. I was told to stand up, sit down, and spin around. I was painted, shoved into an audacious dress, and made to parade in front of a crowd full of screaming creatures that I could only barely recognize as even vaguely humanoid. A drink was shoved down my throat, and both of my palms were slashed brutally open. A snake got tattooed around my neck, without my ever having felt any pain. And to top it all off, not a one spoke my language besides the premier creeper. I was going mad. That could be only way to explain my state of queen in this goblin nation. I had finally lost it, and this was all in my mind. Oh, joy.

_Knock, knock._

"Kate, are you in there? Kate? You have to come out sometime, you know. Kate?" It was Marak. He was back, trying to get me to come out of the lavish room that had been my self-imposed prison for the past two days and nights. After the wedding-thing, he had brought me here and wished me a good night, smiling face leaning in for a quick sneak kiss. I had slammed the door in his face and pushed the heavy bureau up against it. There were no locks on any of the doors in this suite, and so I had deal the best that I could.

The past forty-eight hours or so I had spent pacing around the room, feeling caged but not willing to risk stepping foot outside. I had come to the conclusion that I was not, in fact, mad—because this was all too real to be anything but truth. And I had begun to realize that the crazy-looking people and…animals…were not, in fact, in costumes. And so, naturally, I had set my mind on the possibility of escape.

The great majority of windows in my suite (for that was what it was—bathroom, bedroom, and living room-type thing) faced out onto small courtyards, or public places where I frequently saw people passing by on the ground below. Every time one of them had caught me looking out, I heard exclamations of surprise, and soon enough there was a crowd gathered, waving and calling to me in that garbled tongue they seemed to all speak here. I didn't look out the windows anymore.

But at the moment I half in, half out of the remaining window. It was within stretching distance of a rock wall that I felt confident I could scale until I reached one of the many balconies just barely out of my immediate reach. From there, I was prepared with the plainest dress that I had found in the wardrobe (creepily, it fit perfectly) to simply hide from the rest of the population here and sneak out. Simple. I thought.

"Kate!" Marak called again. "Let me in! Or come out! You can't stay in those three rooms forever! I'll stop sending food, and then you'll be forced to come out!" I could hear the triumph in his voice. He really though he had me, there. Idiot. He'd been coming here at least once an hour, by my estimation, pleading and threatening in turn to try and get me to come out. He hadn't tried to force the door yet, but I felt that that wasn't far off.

"Go away!" I answered him. "I'm not coming out until I can go home! This is kidnapping, and imprisonment, and….a whole bunch of other really bad things! You are _so_ in for it!" Of course, I didn't really plan to take this to the courts. I didn't exactly _want_ to spend the rest of my life in a nice, comfy, white jacket…even if it did let me hug myself twenty-four seven.

"_Kate."_ A small, whispery voice informed me, close to my ear. "_I must inform you that you are endangering yourself as King's Wife. You must stop now."_

"Bite me." I muttered. Okay, so, I still found the snake a bit weird, but we had gotten to talking over the last few days. I didn't jump anymore when he just started speaking and weaving himself in front of my face, which I thought was a huge accomplishment in itself.

"_I don't think you know what you are saying. Now, please, back in the window."_

"No." I replied snidely, trying to fit my dress through the window with me still sitting on the sill. Three things happened at once.

I dropped my spare dress, and it fluttered to the small pathway below. I heard small *_pop*_, saw Marak standing in the doorway of the sitting room triumphantly, with the bureau now shrunk to a doll's size. And Charm (I thought that this was a rather trivial name for one that acted so high and mighty) wound himself tightly around my arms and torso, causing me to lose my precarious balance and tumble back into the room.

Before attempting to wrangle the headstrong golden snake off of my, I had the pleasure of seeing Marak's face. It froze me in my tracks, and Charm simply slithered off of me and to Marak. He wasn't happy.

Sheepishly I got to my feet, but tried for a defiant look as I met Marak's smoldering gaze. He was not my keeper, my king, or my husband. I didn't care what anybody else said. I was seventeen, for god's sake!

"Kate!" He roared, and I took an involuntary step back. He had never yelled yet—he hadn't been mad at me before. And I wasn't sure if I should be scared or not. "Do you know how stupid that just was? Do you have any _idea_? Those cracks in the rock are not meant for _climbing_—they are for _decoration_! Even _if_ you had made it to the wall safely—you would fallen to your death! _And I would not have been able to save you!_" That last one was the one that brought me out of my shell-shocked silence.

"_You_ save _me_?!" I let out a short bark of a laugh. "You _ kidnapped_ me! That's as far away from saving as anything else is even possible! You've kept me here, not letting me call my friends or see the sun or moon, and yet you're worried that I might fall to my _death_? You are the most _hypocritical_ man in the history of the world! And, you're still a creeper!"

His eyes were blazing now, but he gave a cursory glance to Charm as the snake slithered across the plush burgundy carpet over to Marak. "_My king, the King's Wife had made an attempt on her life. I have not bitten her, but next time I may need to."_

"Thank you, Charm." Marak sent a curt nod in the snake's direction, before Charm came back over to me and I offered him an arm to get to my neck. It didn't matter trying to keep him off—he had climbed up my dress, yesterday, because I had asked him to get off and then didn't want him back on. Marak gave his full attention back tome.

"Kate." He was not yelling now, but instead his voice was steel-cold. I almost found that scarier. "Kate, you are my wife, _of course_ I care for my safety. As for your other accusations against me, I must say that yes, I did take you against your will…but I had no choice. It is how it has always been done. I tried to make friends with you first, Kate, I did, but you pushed me away. So I took you anyway. My people must have a King, and a King's Wife, and an heir. The feelings of one girl cannot matter in that regard. And I cannot let you out of this city—that is another rule, another traditions that I have no choice in keeping. I am not hypocritical. I am the Goblin King." His long-fingered hands clenched in fists, and released. Clenched, and released. He stayed standing there, meeting my gaze with his own—but I could no longer read his emotions. He had locked down a wall behind his eyes. As he just stayed there, I wondered what he was doing. And then I realized—he was waiting for a response.

"Marak. Please get out of my room." I wasn't ready to respond to any of that. I just wanted to be alone.

"No." He crossed his arms over his chest. "This is my room. I will not leave it again. I am sleeping in my own bed tonight."

"But—this is your—but I—" I couldn't go on. I had been sleeping in his bed this whole time, unknowing. I had been keeping a man out of his living quarters, even as I was being kept from mine. It might sound clichéd…but it was all too much. I slid down the jeweled wall and landed with a thump, hugging my knees to me, and I began to cry. Nothing loud, no heaving sobs, but the tears were there, and my nose started running. I am not one of those who look pretty when I cry, and I have to say that I wasn't exactly ecstatic to have this creepy man bearing witness.

Marak seemed to shrink as walked over to kneel in front of me, becoming softer and more the laughing person that I had known that first night at the club.

"Kate…don't cry." He murmured to me, pushing a strand of escaped hair back behind my ear. Don't worry…it will get better." I didn't even attempt to push him away. I was sinking down, down, into depression, and I couldn't stop crying, couldn't stop shaking. "Kate?" He questioned me. I could tell that, now, he was getting worried. "Kate?"

And then he kissed me.

Well, _that_ brought me around. I stared up at him, eyes wide. He just _kissed_ me.

Marak gave a sheepish smile. "Well, I knew that would get you out of it…"

I slapped him, straight across the face. It made a wondrous _smack_ noise, and the red imprint of my hand was already clear on his face. The look on his face was one of shock---simply pure shock.

"Kate." He exclaimed. "You just_ hit_ me."

"Yes." I answered. "I just did." And then I went into the bedroom, and hid beneath the blankets. I wasn't ready to talk to him. I just wanted to sleep. I just wanted to go home.


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Sorry for all the grammatical errors. I really don't write that horribly—I just don't have the time to edit. Whoopsie!

Marak left me there, alone and sulking, for all of five minutes. And then he marched right into there, stared at me for a few moments, hands on hips, before stalking over and tearing the blankets away from me. Immediately I sat up with shock in my eyes. I mean, yes, I was wearing a gown (and a very pretty one at that—all yellow and gold and shimmery)—but what if I had been _naked_? What if, in those scant few moments that I had been all by myself, I had decided to strip down and take a nap in the nude? Jerk. I told him that. Explicitly.

"Kate, you do not sleep in the nude." He answered with a calm face and a small smile. He was acting like that whole tiff just outside had never happened! I restate myself: Jerk.

"And how do _you_ know that? You don't know everything about me, you know. Hardly anything, in fact."

A wistful look came over his face, but was replaced in an instant with what I now realized was merely a façade: the joking, laughing Marak wasn't, always, the true one. "I could get to know you, you know." He said, dropping the heap of blankets to the floor. "And you could get to know me. We should be doing that, actually, seeing as how we're—" He didn't finish the sentence the way that he had planned, seeing the furious look in my eyes. "Living together."

"No, really, Marak, that wasn't what you were going to say, was it? Oh, no. You were going to say that we were _married_. Even though I'm only seventeen, and you're heaven knows how old. Only creepers do that—marry minors without their consent. Or, hell, marry _anyone_ without their consent." I thought for a moment, and decided that it would be safer to go on. "Or, well, creepers and perverts."

He laughed at this thought—a true laugh, one that meant that he really thought that I was being amusing. Pity that amusing wasn't quite that reaction I was looking for. "I'm not a creeper. Or a pervert. I simply know how you sleep because I watched you." He shrugged, palms held upwards at his side. "It is what a King does before choosing a bride. It doesn't make me perverted in the least." Marak smirked. "Well, maybe it does. But you were oh so fun to watch. Always looking over you shoulder for me, for anyone…" He shook his head at me, amused, again, at my expense. "Though I really have no idea how you sensed me there. You really are special, Kate." He took one swift step towards me, and I scooted backwards on the bed.

I fell off the bed.

"Don't laugh!" I exclaimed indignantly. "I was only trying to get away from you!"

His laughter stilled, and a serious look came over his face. "I don't want you to be afraid of me, Kate. I will never hurt you. Don't you believe me?"

I pursed my lips and simply ignored him. He had seemed pretty close to doing something only minutes earlier. Slowly I made my way around the huge expanse of bed and over to the miniature armoire. "I'd like the wardrobe back, please. And this time with cloths that I can actually _wear_?"

He seemed surprised, but did as I asked, but didn't return to his earlier point. I was glad. I would cross that bridge when it came. Just not yet. "But you look wonderful in those dresses. And you seemed to be wearing them just fine to me."

"But they're not _me_. I can't lounge in them, or just throw myself on the floor to look at the ceiling—since there's no _sky_ here—" I added darkly, "and not have to worry about flashing someone. I want to be _comfortable_."

Marak shrugged. It was a look that I think he might have perfected in the mirror—that he wanted to help, he really did, but just couldn't. "It is formal wear always for the King's Wife, Kate. I think that maybe we could find something to your tastes, but…" He met my gaze with dark eyes. "Nothing like you wore in the human world, Kate. You are a part of that world no longer. You will never return to the surface, and it will mourn your loss, but soon enough, you will be forgotten in the minds of the humans. You are, technically, a goblin now, Kate. There is no way to go back on that."

I frowned at him, considering. In front of my eyes the wardrobe grew to normal size, and I had to step back to let it expand completely. Opening the wide doors, I didn't turn. I didn't want Marak to see the unshed tears in my eyes, and the anger burning beneath. I would find a way out, just not with him around like this. "Leave, now, please. I would like to change into a clean dress. This one is…a bit soiled from the windowsill." It was more than soiled. Truly, there was a gash in it from about halfway up my thigh to the floor, and various small tears and dirt spots. I had treated it badly, and I was sorry. It really was a pretty gown. I heard Marak sigh, and still did not turn, pretending to be intent on my study of the rainbow of fabrics.

"Soon enough," He murmured. "They all keep saying that soon enough…" I heard him leave, and shut the door quietly behind him. He would be waiting patiently for me on the other side, I knew, and did not bother shoving anything against the door this time. I had seen what he had done to armoire with seemingly no effort. There just would be no point in trying to keep him out of somewhere that he did not want to be.

"Soon enough my ass." I muttered as I removed a bright red dress from the rack. It had a bell-shaped skirt ending a bit above my knees, and was a strapless. A thin red belt of the same material and shade cinched in the waist, and the small embroidered name on the inside of the hem was something completely unpronounceable and Italian. The dress probably cost more than my entire _stock_ of clothing at home—well, back at the Estate. Figures. These goblins never did take anything to less than the max.

I sighed and slipped the yellow dress of my shoulders and down onto the floor, letting it lie there in a beautiful silken puddle as I stepped out of it. The red dress settled over my shoulders like a dream, hanging on my frame without a wrinkle in sight. I would bet that it would never wrinkle—because a, it was Italian and b, it was from the goblins.

I frowned at myself in the mirror. I needed a new bra, and it showed through the dress. There had been a small basket of under-things in the wardrobe when I had first opened it—all of them being in my size, more or less. The types of bras, however, were awful. Not a one was anything but a push-up or water bra, and either type had a tendency to make my already well-sized chest positively obscene. This dress didn't show too much in the way of cleavage, compared to the other things, but the fabric stretched tight over my chest and it was no where close to what I was comfortable wearing. Maybe the goblins were all secretly sluts AND creepers. Then again, I hadn't seen Marak in any leather or vinyl, and….oh, god. I shuddered at the thought.

Quietly I opened the door leading into the sitting room and slipped out. Mark's gaze traveled up and down my form as I just stood there. It wasn't until a wolfish smile grew on his face and a bright gleam crept into his eye that I realized why he was staring.

"Stop that." I snapped at him impatiently, wrapping my arms around my stomach and glaring at him fiercely.

"What, Kate?" He asked, seemingly appalled. "Cannot I gaze upon my blushing bride mere days after we are married with nothing but admiration?"

I rewarded him with a blank, deadly look. "Don't call me a bride. Don't _look_ at me like that. And I. Do Not. Blush. Now, was there something actually _important_ that so desperately had to come and get me for? Or did you just want me to let you in?" He opened his mouth to speak, but I stopped him with an upraised hand. "No, Marak, just no. Let me finish. If you're here for the former, then let's get this over with. And as for the latter? Mission accomplished. You can leave now." I leaned against the doorframe as he struggled for a response. I think that he was fighting not to _laugh_. Yeah, that's what he was doing, as he cleared he throat and the grin stayed one his face. Jerk.

"Actually there is something. Rather amusing, if you ask me." And with that he swept out of the sitting room and started to make his way down the elaborately decorated corridor. As if he expected me to follow him. Even though I had nothing better to do, I wasn't just going to follow him. Even though I was bored out of my mind from several days of self-imposed solitude. Even though—I sighed and went out the door after him. Maybe it would be something actually interesting that he had to show me. Or maybe (and this I thought was far more likely) he just though that _everything_ was interesting, and he was simply going to take me to some never ending pit and feed me to my goblins. At the moment, I had no idea just which one I would, actually, prefer.


	9. Chapter 9

Marak led me down the jeweled corridor, but took a different turning from the one that I remembered in coming up here. Maybe it was the same, actually—this place was just so massive that I truly had no idea one way or the other. We went down a set of stair that ended in a room shaped like a semi-circle, with the very end of the circle hidden behind a heavy red velvet curtain.

"What's past there?" I asked in a small, quiet voice as Marak held one side back a little, gesturing for me to enter first.

"You'll find out." He smiled widely, showing sharp, pointed teeth. How had I not noticed that before?

"I'm not sure that I want to." I took a small step backwards, setting my right foot on the first step of the staircase that we had just descended.

"Go on, Kate." Marak urged, his smile becoming softer, somehow. "No one will hurt you here. No one _can_ hurt you here, even if they did, in fact, want to—which, I assure you," He hastened to add, seeing my alarmed, panicky face, "No one wants to. Everyone loves their queen, especially one that we have known for so very long."

"But you haven't known me for very long at all!" I protested, hands finding their way to my hips as I stood with both feet firmly planted on the floor, a scowl on my face.

"Kate, all will be explained later, now that you are no longer holding yourself captive." A smirk from Marak as he said these words. "But for now, just trust me, and go through the curtain. I swear to you, it is no where near as horrible as you might think."

"Trust…yeah." I muttered, but stepped through the small gap that Marak had made in the curtains. He stepped through behind me, and let the curtain fall with a soft _thump_ to its original position.

I stood frozen, my mouth open in surprise and my eyes wide in shock. My breath accelerated, and I could feel the ground starting to swim underneath me. Because thousands upon thousands of goblins were assembled before Marak and I, cheering and stomping up a storm. Waving to as on our balcony high above them and some flying up to get closer.

Marak spoke a few words in a rough, scratchy language and the balcony that we were on begin to descend along the wall, the screech of stone upon stone barely heard over the noise of the crowd. I shivered as the platform touched the ground of a large dais, still raised about three or so feet from where the goblins crowded.

"Marak," I whispered, turning to him but not being able to find the strength to glare properly, "Marak, could we leave now? This is too much for me, I think."

Marak grinned at me as his hand found mine. This only made the noise of the goblins escalate, even with that seeming impossible. I truly could not hear myself think. "Don't worry, Kate" He spoke, his lips moving over my ear. "These are your people. We are simply meeting them. They will quiet down shortly."

I didn't see this happening anytime soon, and kept my hand in his. Even if I did not trust him, and wasn't even sure if I _liked_ him, it felt comforting to hold someone's hand in mine, even if that hand was cool, dry, and possibly had webbing between the fingertips.

Eventually, though the crowd _did _become quieter, as the goblins could see that Marak had something to say. He smiled a warm, loving smile at them. "Hello, all!" He boomed, somehow making his voice echo so that everyone, even those that I could barely see they were so far away, could hear him clearly and well. "This, as you know, is Kate. Some of you met her for the first time during the ceremony, and some remember her from her days romping about with our children." I stiffened. Oh, no. Oh, shit. Oh, my GOD. Tobie wasn't a fake goblin, Tobie was a real goblin. They were all real. This really wasn't just a dream. There was nothing fake about this. I finally allowed myself to believe that I wasn't in a dream, and to _know_, that it was all real. I had told myself that I had been convinced of the reality of it all before, when really I was still waiting for my alarm to go and to start a new day. Not anymore. That alarm clock would never go off again. I smiled a bit, and dropped Marak's hand so that I could curl it about his shoulder, pulling him down to my height. "Mark Swanswing, we _have _to talk." I growled to him. HE stopped lower so that his lips were inches from mine. My god, hadn't this man ever heard of _boundaries?_

"Oh, so you do remember me." He said pleasantly, a wicked gleam in his eye. "And I take that you realize that everything was real, too. I know that you learned of our customs, Kate. So know that I know that you know that it is perfectly acceptable, at least to them, for me to do this."

Marak reached his arms around my waist and lifted me from the ground, making it impossible for me to feel safe from falling without wrapping my legs around his waist. _Ewwwww_. But that wasn't the last of it. Oh, no. For after that, Marak just swooped in and kissed me. Oh, yeah, that was nice. Not. I jerked my face back from his with a look of indignation. "What the _hell_?" I sputtered, trying in vain to free myself from his arms. That was _totally_ uncalled for!" I was definitely shouting by now, and so it was probably good that the crowd was making a raucous at the scene of me basically having sex with their king on stage. It didn't matter that I was an unwilling participant—_they_ couldn't tell that, now could they? Even the closest of them were a few feet away from the stage, being kept back by a line of scary-looking guys dressed in all black.

"Now, play along, Kate." Marak murmured in my ear, and I could feel him smiling, just happier than ever. "Wouldn't want the children to see Mummy and Daddy angry."

"Children?" I questioned as he gently set me back down on the floor. "Now that's just sick."

"The goblins, Kate, the _goblins_." He sighed, exasperated. "Now just keep smiling until I send them away in a moment. Then you can run back upstairs, lock yourself in our room again, and I can wait to handle you until after today's business it taken care of. They think that we are a perfectly happy couple Kate, never mind how you acted during the ceremony. The women told it to the rest like that was just nerves, and well, with you being out of sight for the past few days, and I only making the rare appearance…" He shrugged, looking bemused. "They _are_ only goblins, and have drawn their own conclusions."

I stopped my smiling and waving to turn and glare at him, disgusted. "They think that we were being crazy _sex-monsters_ for the past _three days_?!? Oh, no no no no _no_. That is just _wrong_."

He made a fake look of dejected hurt come over his face as he crossed his arms over his chest, flashing a brief 'oh, you know women' smile over his shoulder every few seconds at the crowd, who never stopped cheering. Seriously, I'd be getting bored by now. "Don't you want to have sex with me, Kate? That makes me feel sad. Maybe a stripper from outside would be better? One of the village oafs?" Yeah, okay, he was joking, but _still_.

I turned back to the mass of feather, scales, fur and colors, flashed a brief, bright, smile, and then turned right around and stomped back to the curtain. "Send them away _now!_" I shouted back to Marak. "I am _done!_"


	10. Chapter 10

"Kate, Kate _please _don't be mad at me." Marak pleaded as I stomped up the stone stairs and then, each corridor looking exactly like the last, slumped down a wall and hugged my knees to my chest, pressing my face into my knees so hard it hurt. I wasn't depressed, and I wasn't quite angry, really. I was, more…I don't know, maybe overwhelmed would be the correct word?

He slid down next to me, awkwardly folding his legs in front of him and then brushing miniscule pieces of dust off of his pants that had definitely not been there before. "Please, Kate, just let me talk to you? Just talk to me, Kate…really, don't get depressed again. Don't lock yourself away again. Please, Kate, just _look_ at me?"

"I'm _not_ depressed." I growled without lifting my head from my knees.

Marak sighed a heavy sigh and I felt him get up from beside, pause for a moment, but then begin to walk off down one of the innumerable shimmering corridors and staircases. Bastard. How could he leave me like this? Jerk. Meanie head. Horrible king, really, to leave his…I shuddered at how easily the thought came to my mind…his _wife_ here all alone, in a unknown place, _obviously _ not feeling herself. Ugh. Someone should take over. Someone should lock him away. Someone should just—

"Kate?" A deeper voice than Marak's, one that I recognized. My head whipped up, eyes wide in surprise to meet Tobie's sparkling green and gold eyes.

"Tobie!" I cried, my voice a mixture of relief, raw grief, and inexplicable happiness. "Oh, _Tobie!_" I whispered hoarsely, jumping up to let myself be enfolded in his arms, and surprised to find tears pricking at my eyes. It was the fact of someone so familiar, so known, from my old life. I had stopped thinking, already, of my life outside, as a normal girl, as my life. I knew that I would never escape this prison of stone

"Let's go for a walk." He told me, pulling me upright and keeping an arm around my shoulders.

I didn't look up as we went ascended the staircase, and I stayed silent until Tobie gave the first word, when we in a hallway I had never seen before. The walls were just plain stone, but beautiful because of the workmanship that had gone into carving this hallway among so many others. Whoever had first build this palace, this city, had loved it a lot.

"Marak can be an asshole." I was startled at Tobie's words. If Marak was his king, shouldn't this be treason or something? Would something happen to him because of the words he spoke?

Tobie understood my expression, as he always had, and the corners of his mouth lifted. "Well, it's true. I wouldn't say anything like that around Marak, of course, and I wouldn't dream of going against him, you know, it's just…" He struggled for words here, and hugged me closer to him for a minute. "He's so used to everything being handed to him. Oh, sure, he had to study and work hard to be the magnificent King that he is now, but he still grew up with that arrogance, knowing he was going to be King someday. It's something you can't grow out of, you know? He's not a bad King, really, just sometimes…he doesn't understand things. You have to realize, Kate, that when you and I and all of our friends were playing around outside at twilight, and during the night around the fire, he was never able to. He had to stay aloof, he had to stay a King."

This had to be the longest speech that Tobie had ever given. I didn't know where to begin with all of my questions, but some of them had to get out, somehow. "You're real." I began, stopping and turning to look at him, hugging my arms to my chest, feeling the gown crinkle and knowing that it wasn't supposed to be treated this way. I didn't care. "You're real." I said again. "You've always been real, Tobie. You were real when I was a kid, and then, when I had to stop believing, you were still real then. You were always real. I was never crazy, it was never just a phase. There were always goblins in the woods. The townspeople had a reason to be frightened.

Tobie gave a small, sad smile. "You never had to stop believing, Kate." He said. "And are you saying that you're frightened of me?"

"No. You never scared me. I was never afraid of the goblins. I had no need to be. All of you were always pleasant and fun and welcoming and wonderful. But now, _now_, what am I supposed to think? I was stolen, Tobie—I was _taken from my home_, and I know that I will never be allowed to go back. What will my friends think? How am I supposed to just _forget_ about them. Do you know how hard it was to forget about you? About your mother and father, about the balls and about—about all of it? It was the hardest thing that I had ever done, Tobie. I told myself that you _weren't real_, that none of it had ever really existed, and that Mom and Dad had always just been playing along. I had to tell myself that this huge part of my life had all just been a part of my imagination. You can't even imagine what that was like, Tobie."

He opened his mouth to speak, but held up a hand in protest. "And no, I couldn't _no stop_ believing. You can't go to school and talk about your friends, the goblins, back home in England. I needed friends there, Tobie, when you weren't. And no one would come near me when I was just waiting to get back underground, to you guys. It was a survival mechanism, Tobie, and I was just a kid. I couldn't keep believing, especially when I heard nothing from you guys—would it be that hard to send a letter, an email? It was just too hard. So don't tell me how I could have kept believing, and that this all would be that much easier for it. Because it wouldn't be." Tears were streaming down my face by now, and I wished they would stop, but it was like I had no choice, no power over my own body. They just kept on coming. I still stared at Tobie, my eyes hard as I fairly quivered from exhaustion and emotions. "So explain it to me, Tobie, tell me what this is all about. Tell me why I'm here. Tell my why I can't go home."

"Kate, I don't know if you really want to hear it all right now." He said, coming closer to me and taking my hand as we began to walk again. "It's a little much, really."

I stayed silent, and he sighed in desperation. We ended up outside, in a little grotto of jeweled trees and false sunlight that immediately made me wary. Wouldn't the rest of the goblins be able to find us here? This wasn't near private enough. My grip tightened on Tobie's hand as he led me over to the largest of the fake trees, and we sat under it.

"Don't worry." Tobie told me. "No one can get to us here without the King's permission, and no one has that permission except for you, him and, right now, me."

I didn't even look at my surroundings as Tobie began to speak. Nothing here surprised me anymore, and I understood that, in this underwater, underground world of darkness and shadows, real, live plants could never grow in fullness and happiness.

Tobie grumbled something heated under his breath before taking a large gulp of air and beginning his explanation for the bind I was in. "Marak has always known about you, from the stories that we kids told him when we came in after playing. We were good friends, then. We still are now, I suppose, though our different rankings have put us farther apart. But that doesn't matter, really. Marak's father, Marak Blue-eyes, really had you mapped out as King's Wife material from the start. If that didn't work out, he was ready to just have you be a goblin bride, period, Kate. Blue-eyes really wanted you."

He hesitated, but I gave him a questioning look and he plowed ahead, like even if he wanted to stop, he couldn't now. "Well, Kate, you see, you're not completely human. Apparently only half, in fact." I didn't interrupt him at this point, even though I dearly wanted to. Because, I mean, really, what else _could_ I be?

"You've got a lot of elf in you, but some goblin too. Marak's got a genealogy chart in his library, but I thought that, if I told you all of this, it might make more sense, and maybe come as less of a shock. You can go look at it later, if you'd like, since I know you're more of a visual person. I'll take you there if you want to go—unless you would rather Marak…"

Tobie caught his tongue at my sound of indignation and got back on track with the explanation. "Your dad was fully human, yeah, and your mom was about half too. But with the magic bloodlines—goblin and elf and dwarf, it doesn't work quite right, so that's why you're not like a lot more human than you are. Your mom actually a little less than half human, more than half elf, and a tiny bit goblin. See, it's all really confusing, but what it comes down to is that, if you wanted, you could have gone and lived with the elves, because you're kind of like a princess to them. Only not anymore, because we have you now. Marak figured this all out using that chart his dad made, and then with the whole ceremony. Remember when he pricked your finger? He was checking how much shared blood you have. Like, species-wise, not family-wise.

"So that explains why Marak wanted you so bad—why he fairly chased you down. You have that snake around your neck to protect you, though it's not really a snake, you know. Just a charm. And you can't leave, because the doors are charmed to keep you in. An old defense against escaping elf brides, really, but still, it's there so you can't go out. Sorry about that. Anything else you want to know? Marak said to take as long as I wanted, but I've got to get back to my shift soon, or the other guards won't care what Marak said."

I stared at my friend, dumbfounded. Everything was whizzing around my head like crazy. It was kind of hard to understand it all, but really, there was no reason _not_ to believe what he said, since I had already accepted the existence of the goblins. Why not throw every single other mythical creature into the mix? And, well, Mom had been really beautiful, with her soft voice and the way certain things about her just didn't make sense. And Grandpa D. _did_ have that perpetually dry skin that almost seemed like scales. Hell, it probably _was_ scales. My god. My family had been living like this and we had never been _told?_

"Tobie, did my parents know this? Did my aunts and uncles…did everyone in my family know what we were, and just didn't tell me?"

"Well, yeah." He answered, seeming a bit surprised. If not, do you think you really would have been able to just go off into the woods at night and play with us, if you parents just thought you had a bunch of weird imaginary friends? Come on, Kate, really. Your aunts and uncles, though, I really couldn't say. I don't know. After your grandma and grandpa moved to the states, your parents were the only ones that ever came back. Your mom's siblings were never enough of anything, really, for it to make a difference in their lives. You mom knew because your grandma told her, since it was clear that Anna had a whole lot of elf in her. But that's also why you never came back after that last summer. You were growing up, and your parents didn't want a court life for you. They wanted you to be…you know, a human. So they took you away."

I stared at the ground, silent. This was a lot to sort through. I told Tobie so, and had him take me back to my, well, Marak's, room. There Tobie left me, so that he could get back to his rotation, as I peeled off the beautiful, crumpled dress, and found one of cotton, a lighter thing to be worn outside in the summer time.

I had to think. I had to remember everything of the goblins that I could. Their customs, their language, their life, and their King. Even rumors from my childhood would help me now. Anything and everything in my mind had to be sorted through and categorized into what was useful and what not-so-much. Eventually I scrounged around and found a desk with paper and pens in the adjoining room, and began to write. This was not going to be my life. I was going to do something about it—well, at least, I was definitely going to try.


End file.
